Hos 4:12 ... "They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God."
Were not the people the author observed "consulting a piece of stone"?
Exactly correct. And yet even idolaters who pray before wooden sticks might insist the wooden stick is only representative of something else which is the same excuse the RCC gives.
When Indians bowed down to the dead head of a wild boar, they didn't just believe that dead boar had power over them, but all other boars which were represented by the one dead animal.
But the bottom line is that they were still praying to someone and something other than God, whether it was the dead boar in front of them or the living ones still roaming around the plains.
So this excuse by the RCC that they are not praying to the wood but to what the wood represents doesn't hold up.
Either way it's still idolatry. It's still prayers to an unknown god.
"They are unfaithful to their God."
Exactly right. Great observation. :) We have:
Deut 16:21-22 : 21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, 22 and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates.
Whether this refers to a pole or a grove of trees is irrelevant. The point is clearly to offer a pipeline to a false god. I did find some examples where it looked like the thing itself WAS the god, but there are others that appeared to serve as conduits, just like we have here today.